‘Batsmen still haven’t understood the value of finishing a match’ – Malinga

It’s all well and good to get fast starts, batsmen, but once you’re in, you have to convert your promising innings into match-winning ones. So went the message from captain Lasith Malinga to the Sri Lanka top order, after the visitors slumped to a 35-run defeat in the lone T20I against New Zealand in Auckland on Friday. Four batsmen in Sri Lanka’s top five passed 15, but none went on to make a half-century, despite the fact that Sri Lanka were ahead of the required rate early in their innings.